In the on-going case in Supreme Court regarding the legal validity of Aadhaar Card, Govt. of India has finally come out of the closet, and admitted for the very first time, that Aadhaar would be made mandatory for all, very soon.
This holds major consequences because till now, Govt. had not openly admitted & declared that Aadhaar would be mandated for every Indian. Earlier, it was said that for welfare related schemes, Aadhaar would be made compulsory.
But, after this recent admission, things can drastically change.
Aadhaar Is safer Than PAN Card
The very base of Aadhaar being compulsory for all Indians stems from the claim of Govt. of India, that Aadhaar is much safer and protected platform than PAN Card.
Presenting his arguments before a bench comprising of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan, Attorney General (AG) Mukul Rohatgi said, “Aadhaar makes a secure and robust system through which the identity of a person cannot be faked,”
As per the AG, PAN Card can be issued using ration cards and driving license, but Aadhaar needs authentic biometric data, which cannot be forged.
Citing an example, and to prove the logic, AG Rohatgi said, “Almost 113 crore individuals have enrolled for Aadhaar as compared to 29 crores who have PAN. Of them, almost 10 lakh PAN cards have been found to be fake,” he said, adding, “while the government found no instance of duplicate Aadhaar cards.”
Aadhaar Number Leak Not a Big Deal?
Later, when questioned about the recent cases of Aadhaar number leak, like that in Jharkhand, Govt. of India made very interesting, hardline stand.
First of all, Govt. said that the Aadhaar number leak happened due to the carelessness of Jharkhand Govt., which is a state govt., and Centre has nothing to do with this.
Then, the AG made a bomb of a statement – he said that leakage of Aadhaar number is not a big deal because the biometric data are still safe.
Refusing the very concept of privacy, the AG said, “In this world, there is no concept of reasonable privacy.”
In fact, he advised those who are making a hue and cry about privacy to go to the Himalayas, and live as a hermit there.
The hearing is still on, and we will keep you updated as we receive more information.
If you disagree with Rohatgi’s statements and claims about privacy concern vis-a-vis Aadhaar, then do let us know by commenting right here.